Dolly-mounted bag holder for refuse compactor

ABSTRACT

A dolly-mounted sheet metal box-like holder for plastic refuse bags, as utilized as an adjunct of existing refuse compacting equipment, is constituted by an upright front wall, an open top and rear, a bottom floor and parallel upright side walls. The side walls (and optionally, the front walls) are stamped to provide parallel ribs affording internal overhang ledges beneath which the walls of the refuse receiving bag engage as the material is ram-compacted, thus combatting a tendency of the interlocked material to spring back upwardly in the bag after each compacting ram stroke. The side wall ribs by preference also incline mildly downwardly from front to open rear.

1 1 Sept. 11, 1973 1 DOLLY-MOUNTED BAG nouma r011 REFUSE COMPACTOR Lyle J. Ritchie, St. Clair Shores, Mich.

Assignee: Automatic Refuse Systems, Inc., St.

Clair Shores, Mich.

Filed: July 14, 1971 Appl. No.: 162,546

[75] inventor:

Babcock 100/220 Groom l00/l87 X Primary Examiner-Billy J. Wilhite Att0rneyL. Gaylor l-lulbert et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A do11y-mounted sheet metal box-like holder for plastic refuse bags, as utilized as an adjunct of existing refuse compacting equipment, is constituted by an upright front wall, an open top and rear, a bottom floor and 52 us. c1. 100/220 100/229 A Parallel Side Walls- The side walls (and [51] Int. Cl. B30b 15/00 the from walls) are stamped to Provide Parallel 58 Field of Search 100/220 187 229 A ribs affmding internal emang ledges beneaih whih the walls of the refuse receiving bag engage as the ma- [56] Reterences Cited terial is ram-compacted, thus combatting a tendency of UNITED STATES PATENTS the interlocked materlal to spring back upwardly 1n the bag after each compactmg ram stroke. The side wall 3,589,277 6/1971 Gray 100/215 ribs by preference also incline mildly downwardly from 308,208 11/1884 Sm1th.... 100/220 from to open rear 3,241,479 3/1966 Grillot 100/179 532,750 1718?? Banister et al 100/220 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 1% I I I DOLLY-MOUNTED BAG HOLDER FOR REFUSE COMPACTOR CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD The main application of the improvement of the invention is in ram powered refuse or waste material compactors of the above mentioned type installed in large scale industrial or institutional dining halls, cafeterias and the like. However, other mass refuse handling outlets, as well as smaller domestic installations are also comtemplated.

I am unaware of existing prior art dealing with specific bag holder features such as are referred to in the Abstract.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the operation of refuse compactors of the type re ferred to, in which a compactor ram will deliver repeated forces of the order of 3,000 pounds, with considerable resultant interlocking the compacted materials in a bag mounted in the holder, it is found that as the ram retracts, a certain amount of spring-back of the refuse occurs when the ram is withdrawn upwardly, and that the drier the refuse the greater the spring-back.

It is a general object, therefore, of the bag holder improvement of the invention to substantially combat, if not entirely prevent, any substantial such spring-back, thereby affording an empty greater bag space in which further loose refuse to be compacted may be manually charged. To this end the side walls of the bag holder are provided with a plurality of parallel, vertically successive corrugated rib formations stamped in the walls, into the valleys of which formations the sides of the plastic bag are forced in expanding laterally under the compacting ram force, being vertically restrained by overhang ledges above the valley. The entire load in the bag has a tendency to stay down during and after the filling and compacting process, until the mouth of the bag is closed and tied prior to the bag's being removed from the holder.

It has also been found that a mild inclination of the ribs downwardly and toward the open rear of the bag holder further facilitates removal of the filled and tied bag from the holder, maintaining rib pressure on the bag walls as slid to the rear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view, partially broken away, showing a bag holder according to the invention as associated with a dolly-type holder unit in an existing refuse compactor;

FIG. 2 is a view of the improved holder proper in rear-to-front elevation, or as viewed from the right of FIG. 1, illustrating in dot-dash line an optional feature involving a horizontal corrugating or ribbing the front wall panel of the holder, the view being quite schematic in nature;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side clevational view of the holder, as viewed from the right-hand side of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the holder in vertical section on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view on line 5-5 of FIG. 2, illustrating in enlarged scale a pinched flange detail of the top ofa side wall of the bag holder; and

FIG. 6 is a view in section similar to FIG. 5, showing an alternative rolled top flange feature, which in many instances will be the preferred form of flanging the wall.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. I shows a rolling dolley type bag holder unit generally designated 10, which will be basically constructed as shown in FIGS. 13-19 of the Gray et al. patent identified above, and is similarly operated. It is associated with a compactor machine 11, preferably also as shown in the patent, to mount the improved bag holder 12 of the present invention. Only the essential features of the holder unit 10 are herein shown; and reference may be had to the patent for further details of structure and operation.

Thus, unit 10 includes a full width front cover panel 13 appropriately finished attractively at its top and bottom by rolled formations 14, the panel being provided adjacent and between those formations with top and bottom brackets 15, to which the front wall of holder 12 is appropriately secured, thus constituting the holder and the front cover panel 13 as unitary parts. These are fixedly mounted rigidly atop a dolly structure 16 movable on casters 17, as on box-section base beams 18 of the dolly. An over-center toggle linkage 19 is manually operable to elevate the bag holder structure a bit above an impact-sustaining base of the machine 11, as explained in the patent.

Pursuant to the invention, and as best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bag holder l2 comprises stamped sheet components, in considerable measure integral or onepiece in nature and preferably of a stainless, readily cleaned and non-corrosive material, whether Monel or a semi-rigid plastic. The stamping is such as to provide vertical and laterally spaced, front-to-rear extending side walls 20, 21 and an upright front wall 22 to the rear of front cover panel 13 and linkage 19 (FIG. 1). A bottom floor 23 of holder 12 telescopingly receives bottom edges of side walls 20 and 21, being upwardly flanged at 24 (FIGS. 3 and 4) for this purpose, and preferably lipped upwardly at a rear extremity 25 of said bottom. Appropriate welded connections complete a unitary wall and floor holder construction, the side walls 20, 21 opening through the rear of the holder 12, or to the right as viewed in FIG. 1 and the left as viewed in FIG. 3. Front wall 22 is shown in FIG. 3 as having an integral flange enlargement 26*at each side thereof, which enlargements wrap about forward edges of the side walls 20, 21 and are welded or otherwise secured unitarily thereto.

The connected side and front walls 20, 21 and 22 are formed, in one adaptation, with outwardly pinched integral flanges 27 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) over which three top edges of a polyethylene bag to be filled (not shown) are outwardly lapped to sustain the bag walls vertically as rubbish or trash compaction proceeds.

In the alternative it will many times be found desirable to provide an outwardly rolled type of top flange formation such as is illustrated in FIG. 6, in which the side walls 20, 21 and front wall 22 are bent 180 outwardly and downwardly around a semi-circular sectioned top bight portion 28 defining a flange 29. This permits the flexible plastic material of the bag to be considerably stretched outwardly and downwardly at its top about a flange 29,inherently springing inwardly about the lower lip of the latter for a very secure yet readily releasable retention of the bag in place.

Pursuant to the invention, the side walls 20, 21 of the holder 12 are identically stamped to provide identical rib formations,generally designated 31, of an acutely angled corrugated nature in a substantial vertical portion of each wall, these formations directly adjoining and merging integrally with one another in the top to bottom direction. Thus, each formation 31, as viewed in FIGS 3 and 4, affords an acutely inwardly and downwardly angled wall portion 32 disposed at about to the vertical, which portion integrally connects in a saw tooth outline with horizontal over-hanging ledge portions 33 of ribs 31 directly above and below it. Moreover, as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the ribs 31 incline mildly downwardly from front to rear at an angle, say, of 8 or 9, paralleling one another throughout the front-to-rear extent of side walls and 21.

Thus, as compacting proceeds the compressed refuse material, as it interlocks and ties together, also expands laterally outwardly against corrugation valleys of the side walls beneath the ledges or over-hangs 33, with the result that the inherent tendency of the compacted refuse to return-spring upwardly on cessation of the compacting ram force is in the main prevented.

At the same time, the mild front-to-rear downward inclination of the ribs 31 has been found to contribute to better discipline of the fully compacted material in the bag as the latter is removed manually from the holder. This follows an unlatching of the holder from the compactor proper, by means and as described in the patent identified above, and rolling the holder unit 10 forwardly (to the left as viewed in FIG. 1) from within the compactor 11, whereupon the bag is tied at its top and slid out of holder 12 through the open rear of the latter. The holder side walls 20, 21 are mechanically confined from significant spread during compacting by appropriate side bracing provisions of the machine 11, which nevertheless do not significantly restrain movement of the bag holder unit 10 as it is rolled out of the zone of ram compaction.

As indicated above, and as schematically illustrated in FIG. 2 in dot-dash line, in order to further combat spring-back of the bag, the front wall 22 of holder 12 may also be stamped to afford a vertical series of successive horizontal rib formations 35, although the action of the side wall ribs 31 will ordinarily suffice for the purpose.

In actual full scale tests using the inproved holder in compacting shop refuse over a period of about 15 days, in which the compacted content of each bag holder was weighed, it was found that there was an average of approximately 20 percent more weight in the bags handled in the ribbed bag holder than those compacted in the standard bag holder pursuant to the Gray et a]. patent.

What is claimed is:

l. A refuse compactor bag holder for a compacting machine, said holder being of open rear and top outline and having an upright front wall and a pair of upright side walls connected to and extending rearwardly relative to said front wall, each of said side walls being provided with at least one internal front-to-rear extending rib formation beneath which a wall of a bag in said holder may engage laterally under the effect of longitudinal compressive force exerted on material compacted in the bag, thus to exert downward restraining action on the bag wall, the respective rib formations being free of rear-end connection to one another such as would tend to obstruct the open rear of the holder, said formations inclining mildly downwardly in the front to rear direction.

2. A refuse compactor bag holder for a compacting machine, said holder being of open rear and top outline and having an upright front wall and a pair of upright side walls connected to and extending rearwardly relative to said front wall, each of said side walls being provided with at least one internal front-to-rear extending rib formation beneath which a wall of a bag in said holder may engage laterally under the effect of longitudinal compressive force exerted on material compacted in the bag, thus to exert downward restraining action on the bag wall, the respective rib formations being free of rear-end connection to one another such as would tend to obstruct the open rear of the holder, said rib formations being arranged parallel to one another to incline mildly downwardly in the front to rear direc- 

1. A refuse compactor bag holder for a compacting machine, said holder being of open rear and top outline and having an upright front wall and a pair of upright side walls connected to and extending rearwardly relative to said front wall, each of said side walls being provided with at least one internal front-torear extending rib formation beneath which a wall of a bag in said holder may engage laterally under the effect of longitudinal compressive force exerted on material compacted in the bag, thus to exert downward restraining action on the bag wall, the respective rib formations being free of rear-end connection to one another such as would tend to obstruct the open rear of the holder, said formations inclining mildly downwardly in the front to rear direction.
 2. A refuse compactor bag holder for a compacting machine, said holder being of open rear and top outline and having an upright front Wall and a pair of upright side walls connected to and extending rearwardly relative to said front wall, each of said side walls being provided with at least one internal front-to-rear extending rib formation beneath which a wall of a bag in said holder may engage laterally under the effect of longitudinal compressive force exerted on material compacted in the bag, thus to exert downward restraining action on the bag wall, the respective rib formations being free of rear-end connection to one another such as would tend to obstruct the open rear of the holder, said rib formations being arranged parallel to one another to incline mildly downwardly in the front to rear direction. 